Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Catholic News

Home

Home
Catholic
Religion News
Anti-Cordileone ad misrepresents Catholicism, archdiocese says

Anti-Cordileone ad misrepresents Catholicism, archdiocese says

Last updated on: April 17, 2015 at 10:13 am by CNA Daily News

Anti-Cordileone ad misrepresents Catholicism, archdiocese says 2015-04-17T10:13:00+00:00 CNA Daily News

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

San Francisco, Calif., Apr 17, 2015 / 04:13 am (CNA).- A group of Catholics promoting a full-page advertisement asking Pope Francis to remove Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone don’t represent San Francisco Catholics and misrepresent the facts, the archdiocese has said.

“The advertisement is a misrepresentation of Catholic teaching, a misrepresentation of the nature of the (archdiocese’s) teacher contract, and a misrepresentation of the spirit of the archbishop,” the San Francisco archdiocese said April 15.

“The greatest misrepresentation of all is that the signers presume to speak for ‘the Catholic community of San Francisco.’ They do not.”

The ad also drew criticism from Eva Muntean, a local Catholic who is an organizer of the group SFCatholics.org.

“It’s truly astonishing that a group of self-proclaimed ‘prominent Catholics’ has become so self-absorbed that they believe they can demand that the Holy Father remove an Archbishop because he refuses to sacrifice teaching Catholic values to children in our Catholic schools,” Muntean said April 16.

“We stand with Archbishop Cordileone and support his leadership,” she said.

The full-page ad in the San Francisco Chronicle presented an open letter signed by over 100 people, including business executives, business owners, prominent attorneys and charitable foundation leaders. Signers included parishioners and people with present or past connections to the archdiocese and area Catholic schools.

Among the signers is Clint Reilly, a businessman and former political consultant whose firm Clinton Reilly Campaigns boasted past clients like U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi, U.S. Sens. Diane Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, former Los Angeles mayor Richard Riordan, and former San Francisco mayor Frank Jordan. Reilly is a past president of Catholic Charities CYO’s board of directors and has been a major donor to Catholic Charities.

Another signer, Brian Cahill, is a former executive director of the local Catholic Charities affiliate. He has been an outspoken critic of Catholic teaching on homosexual relationships. He has also criticized several U.S. Catholic bishops, whom he claims are less pastoral than Pope Francis.

Other signers include Tom Brady, Sr., an insurance firm principal who is the father of New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady; and Charles Geschke, past chairman of the University of San Francisco board of trustees, who is the chairman of the tech company Adobe Systems.

“Please provide us with a leader true to our values and your namesake,” the ad asked the Pope. “Please replace Archbishop Cordileone.”

The ad accused the archbishop of fostering “division and intolerance.” It objected to the archbishop’s addition of an explanation of Catholic moral teaching to faculty and staff handbooks for the archdiocese’s four high schools. The ad claimed the explanations of Catholic teaching showed “absolute mean-spiritedness” that “sets a pastoral tone closer to persecution than evangelization.” They claimed a Catholic morality code would violate individual conscience and California labor law.

The ad also objected to Archbishop Cordileone’s selection of a pastor at Star of the Sea Parish who decided only to have altar boys and not female altar servers.

The ad claimed that the archbishop has “isolated himself from our community” and that he has a “single-issue agenda” that threatens the archdiocese.

In response, the archdiocese said it has met with a “broad range of stakeholders” and “engaged in a constructive dialogue on all of the issues raised in this ad.”

“We welcome the chance to continue that discussion,” the archdiocese said.

Muntean charged that the ad is “a slur on a good and decent man who has devoted his life in service to others.”

San Francisco Chronicle columnists Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross said that neither the Chronicle’s business department nor the ad sponsors would say how much the ad cost.

“We’re told, however, that full-page ads typically run in the tens of thousands of dollars,” the columnists said April 16.

Some high school students, teachers and parents have publicly protested the archbishop's proposals. But other money has also been connected to the controversy.

Some opponents of Archbishop Cordileone have hired Sam Singer of the public relations firm Singer and Associates to back their cause. Singer has represented the oil giant Chevron for decades. He was hired by the directors of the Bay Area Rapid Transit District during a 2013 labor dispute with public transit unions.

On Twitter, Singer published or re-tweeted over 40 tweets highlighting the anti-Cordileone ad.

The voices of the city’s leaders are “loud and clear” that “Cordileone must go,” Singer said in an April 16 tweet. In a public post on his Facebook profile, Singer linked to a story about the ad, writing “the heat is on.”

While a February report in the SF Weekly indicated that Singer had been hired due to controversy in the Catholic high schools, Singer later told the National Catholic Reporter he had been hired by alumni, parents and their supporters involved in the dispute over Star of the Sea Catholic School, a K-8 institution connected to the parish of the same name.

On Feb. 18, Ash Wednesday, Singer said on the social media site Google+ that “everyone is praying that the Pope will remove the San Francisco Archbishop.”

The campaign against the archbishop is intimidating some Catholics.

A Catholic teacher who has worked at an archdiocesan high school for several years told CNA in March that the media campaign against Archbishop Cordileone “has caused fear among his supporters.”

The controversies in the Archdiocese of San Francisco come after significant activist funding. One Archbishop Cordileone opponent is the group Faithful America, a partner of the Berkeley, Calif.-based Citizen Engagement Lab. The group was the recipient of a $75,000 Arcus Foundation grant in 2014 to “promote greater media visibility for Christians who denounce the abuse of religious-freedom arguments to oppose full equality for LGBT persons.”

An early petition against the archbishop was created by Jim Fitzgerald, executive director of Call to Action, a decades-old dissenting Catholic group. The group’s “JustChurch” project specifically opposes morality clauses in Catholic schools.

The group is part of the Equally Blessed Coalition, with the LGBT activist groups Dignity USA and New Ways Ministry. The coalition has received at least $200,000 from the Arcus Foundation to “counter the narrative of the Catholic Church” ahead of the Synod on the Family, according to grant listings on the foundation website.

Archbishop Cordileone was Bishop of Oakland, Calif. from 2009 until 2012. He has served as the U.S. bishops’ conference’s ad hoc committee for the defense of marriage. He has also served on a governing body for Courage, a ministry for people with same-sex attraction who want to live a life consistent with Catholic faith and morals.

Previous Post

April 17, 2015

Pope Francis to Cuba? It's not official, but possible, Vatican says

Next Post

April 17, 2015 BREAKING: Cardinal Francis George of Chicago dies at 78

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Americas Asia - Pacific Europe Middle East - Africa Uncategorized US Vatican

Select a Month November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What was the primary fabric used for clothing?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Cotton Silk Wool Linen